I dunno, you guys, I had to write one of these eventually and it kind of just...snowballed into whatever this is :'D Luh-Lloyd is still a sweetheart, and I really need to write something for the movie verse one of these days, especially since I wouldn't have been dragged into this show without it.
Also, I'm taking extensive liberties (really extensive liberties) with the whole Oni thing supposedly coming up in the future, but this is also technically and AU, so! All good.
"I'm really sorry about this, by the way," Lloyd pants, as he ducks behind an overturned car. "I know your life is probably stressful enough as it is. I mean, I don't know, but you're - well, me, so I'm gonna guess it's probably stressful."
"Guessed right," the other...him, gasps from where he's crouched beside Lloyd, clutching his backpack tightly to his chest. "My life sucks. I mean did suck. Used to? Still sorta sucks. There are - there are bright spots."
"Hey, cheers," Lloyd says, as he tries to adjust his arm again, biting his lip at the flare of pain. Stupid, rookie mistake, he really hopes it's not actually dislocated-
He flinches as something explodes nearby, sending more unfortunate pedestrians running down the street in terror. "But um, this one - this one's on me, I think," he continues, trying to peer above the car. "I really didn't mean to drag you into it - or get dragged here, I guess, but I-"
The car they're hiding behind suddenly goes flying off to the side, and Lloyd and his slightly-shorter doppelgänger scream in unison. Lloyd wastes no time - he grabs his double's wrist and pulls him into a dead sprint away from the shrieking Oni.
"You can't run forever, son of Garmadon-"
Lloyd inhales a scream. Just watch him, he regularly beats out Cole in the race for last slice of cake-
"Wait, this way!"
The other him suddenly changes direction, grabbing Lloyd's own wrist this time and dragging him sharply to the right, ducking them into an alleyway. Lloyd complies, letting his counterpart lead the way - this is his world, after all. An enraged roar echoes behind them, and the other Lloyd gives a strangled yelp as a car flies overhead, crashing into the buildings above them with a fiery explosion, screams echoing from the street as sparking bits of metal rain down.
"Here!"
The other Lloyd slides them between buildings, darting down another alleyway. He immediately skids to the left, pulling Lloyd through the cracked, torn-up grating that edges a circular tunnel that looks like it leads to the sewers.
"It doesn't lead to the sewers," the other him pants, as if reading his thoughts. "It's an old rainwater tunnel, it should spit us out near the coast."
Lloyd just nods, glancing behind them one last time. The alleyway is empty, but he can still hear the Oni's furious shouting from the street. He feels a pang at leaving the city to her, but down a functioning arm and completely at a loss as he is, he probably wouldn't come out on top right now.
Also, she's only here for him, so he doubts she'll heckle anyone else too much. But who knows, she's an Oni.
Lloyd turns, following his doppelgänger cautiously into the tunnel. Their footsteps echo oddly, harsh breathing echoing through the darkness. The other Lloyd flicks the penlight keychain hanging from his backpack on, pausing as he squints.
"Okay, we're pretty far in," he says. "I think…maybe fifteen, twenty minutes or so walking, and we'll be out? Shorter, if we're running."
"Let's walk," Lloyd breathes, trying not to jostle his arm as he steps gingerly. He winces - going head to head with an Oni isn't supposed to be this exhausting. What's he gonna do when all the rest of them show up? Die?
"So, uh," the other him suddenly speaks up, a little nervously. Lloyd looks over at him, studying the features that are so familiar but somehow not, the same fluffy blond hair sticking up awkwardly where it's been singed. Wow, this is weird - does he really look like that? His eyes aren't that green.
...most of the time.
"Now that we're not in immediate mortal danger, do you wanna, um, explain?"
The other Lloyd looks two seconds away from a breakdown - Lloyd would know, because he feels that way a lot. This Lloyd looks a bit less experienced with this kind of stuff, though - a little less confident, a little more innocent. Lloyd winces.
"Yeah," Lloyd says, dragging his feet through the shallow water. "It's, um. It's a bit of a long story, and it's probably gonna sound a little far-fetched."
"I mean, apart from the fact that you're me," the other Lloyd gives a breathless laugh. "Which is, um. Okay. Cool. Co-ol. Uh, can we start with - whatever that thing was?"
Lloyd runs a hand through his hair wearily. "Yeah, that's - that's a good place to start. So, uh, do you have Oni here?"
His counterpart blinks in confusion. "You mean the Oni from our mythology books? Like the ones Uncle Wu would make up to get me to stay in bed when he babysat?"
Lloyd groans. "I wish." He frowns. "Hey, wait. Does this mean that you aren't half-Oni, half-dragon, whatever?"
The other Lloyd gapes at him. "Am I half - what?"
"Taking that as a no," Lloyd sighs. Lucky. "Ah, anyways. They're real in my world…um, realm? I'm gonna assume this is just a new kind of realm, but I've honestly never-"
He cuts himself off before he starts rambling incoherently. Freaking out about this isn't gonna help anything. The other Lloyd looks like he's freaking out enough, and there needs to be at least one Lloyd not going to pieces here. "Okay. Do you have, like, a safe place we can sit down figure this out at? You mentioned Uncle Wu, is he here?"
The other Lloyd still looks pretty pale, but he nods. "Y-yeah, we can - Uncle Wu's ship isn't too far away. The others might be there, too."
"Awesome," Lloyd says, assuming that "the others" are the same as his. He wonders if they look any different. "Let's get to them, and then I'll….I'll have something."
The other Lloyd gives him a crooked grin. "Meaning you have no clue, right."
Lloyd huffs. "I've got — I've got like, half — a third, of one? Maybe?" His counterpart gives him a look, and Lloyd flushes. Geez, normally he's better at lying to himself.
"Fine, I have no idea. That's what Uncle Wu's for though, right?"
"If anything."
Earlier.
For all that Lloyd's been dreading it, the actual arrival of the Oni is way less climactic than he'd thought it be. Mainly because instead of the heavens splitting open and lightning flashing across the sky as they face down across a battlefield of blood, one jumps him in the parking lot outside the mall during a mildly overcast late afternoon.
It's completely out of the blue, too — no dramatic lead-up or anything. Lloyd is minding his own business, the book Nya's been wanting tucked under one arm while he sips at the coffee he probably shouldn't have bought in the other, just making his way to the train — when suddenly car alarms are shrieking around him and five trucks spontaneously combust into flames. And then she's there, in all her Oni glory, snarling and spitting about vengeance and traitors and Garmadon's half-grown spawn.
Lloyd, experienced and renowned ninja that he is, kinda just stares at her, his mouth half-open. Too say that this is unexpected is an understatement. And really inconvenient, too, because one) he's in causal jeans and a sweater, and the scarf he's wearing is one he really likes, and he's gone through a lot of trouble to keep it from getting incinerated; and two) he spent four dollars and seventy five cents on this coffee, and he's only gotten in like, three sips so far — Lloyd isn't rich.
He's also about two seconds from getting violently dismembered in a very public parking lot. (There better not be any camera crews around, he's been getting trashed in fights on TV enough lately.)
Lloyd's not prepared for this. His normally battle-ready mind has left him with nothing but "yikes" on repeat. So he impresses even himself when he manages to dive and roll out of the way before she can hit him with a blast of flaming purple. She hits a truck instead, and Lloyd whacks into a minivan trying to back further out of the way, wincing as his head meets one of the headlights with a muffled thud.
The adrenaline finally kicks in, and his awareness shoots up to the heightened sort of anticipation it always does when he's in battle. He's in trouble - that much is obvious. He's too out in the open, and he can't flee back to the mall, there are too many people there. The guys are a good few miles out, and Lloyd hasn't even called them yet. And he left his sword at home like a moron, so he's completely unarmed except for the dumb cup of coffee-
The Oni jumps forward, and Lloyd curses, diving out of the way and narrowly missing getting his skull crushed in. Some of his coffee splashes up, sending flecks of burning liquid onto his hand.
Let go of the coffee! rational brain shrieks at him. The other half of his brain, though, is just getting angry. What, he can't even enjoy one stupid cup of coffee in peace now? This is his coffee, he bought it, he just wants to drink it and maybe go look for Christmas decorations, because it's barely November but he's the annoying kind of person that starts blasting music two months away, and darn it he really wanted to have a semi-relaxing holiday this year-
-oof, that's what he gets for not paying attention. She's knocked him solidly into a minivan, the dashboard denting as metal crunches beneath him. His power sparks, wailing in irritation at him as it keeps his spine from shattering.
Hold your own body together, it seems to shriek at him, probably fearing they're about to see a repeat of Kyrptarium. Lloyd grits his teeth. Not gonna happen. He didn't make it this far to go down to some distant Oni relative in a parking lot.
The Oni charges him again, and this time Lloyd stands his ground. The minute she's in reach, he flips the lid of his coffee off, and hurls twenty ounces of burning hot white-chocolate-peppermint-spice into her eyes. His terrible taste in coffee does its job, and she yelps, momentarily blinded as Lloyd uses her distraction to strike out, blasting her solidly in the middle with a burst of glowing green. The Oni goes flying across the parking lot, crashing into a row of cars as she howls. Lloyd cringes as several more alarms are set off.
Maybe he can convince Cole to do damage control on this one...
Instead of pressing his advantage, Lloyd falls back, putting as much distant between himself the the Oni as possible while he punches at his phone, Kai's number first on the list. The sooner the others know, the sooner he can get back-up.
"-'Sup, it's Kai, leave a message and I'll get back to you when I'm done saving the world again!-"
For the love of-
Lloyd bites back a curse, ending the call and trying Nya instead. An explosion goes off somewhere behind him, followed by the Oni's enraged roar, and Lloyd flattens himself further against the car he's hiding behind.
"-Hi, you've reached Nya! Sorry I missed your call, leave your name and number and I'll call you back-"
"Are you kidding me!" Lloyd shrieks.
"Found you."
Lloyd's angry sputtering quickly turns to a scream as the Oni thuds down beside him, her fists flaming. He stuffs his phone back in his pocket, his own hands lighting up as he narrowly ducks a blast, sending one of his own back in retaliation. The Oni dodges it, striking out, and Lloyd is forced to pull his power in to block it, his half-formed shield of green shuddering against the impact. The Oni draws back, and Lloyd splits the shield in half, whirling it into glowing orbs that he sends flying back at her. If he plays this right, a close-cornered fight could go to his advantage — he's smaller, faster, and probably stands a better chance at dodging the high-powered blasts they're hurling at each other.
The Oni moves in again, and Lloyd dodges to the side, energy whining as he builds another blast — and curse it, she was feinting, now he's left his right side open-
The Oni gets a hand around his upper right arm and Lloyd flails, his power sparking frantically before she pulls sharply and something pops, ugly and painful.
Lloyd's agonized shriek is cut off as she promptly hurls him across the parking lot again. He barely has the sense to twist himself around his throbbing, probably-dislocated-but-man-he-really-hopes-not arm, pain fogging his brain as he crashes into another car. Glass clinks beneath him as he struggles to push himself up, his vision swimming as his good hand desperately punches at his phone, going for literally any contact at this point.
C'mon, c'mon, anyone, please pick up-
The Oni crashes down on the car, looming over him, and Lloyd yelps, dropping the phone. She reaches down for him, batting away his green blast like it's paper, and Kai's voice suddenly filters through the phone, echoing oddly against the dashboard.
"Hey Lloyd, sorry I missed your call, was talkin' with Skylor - what's up?"
Unfortunately, Lloyd can't really form any kind of response at the moment, as his vocal chords are currently getting crushed by his great-aunt thrice removed, or whatever she is.
He flails as she lifts him up, kicking furiously as her eyes glint malevolently at him. "Time to go home, young one," she hisses, and the space behind her warps, glowing a dark purple-blue.
"Lloyd? Who's voice is that?"
Lloyd's eyes go wide, and he starts kicking harder. He knows what realm transportation looks like, and like heck he's doing that again, they had enough trouble with the guys in the First Realm-
"Lloyd?! Lloyd, answer me, what's going on!"
Lloyd suddenly wishes he hadn't called Kai after all, because going by the panicked way he's yelling Lloyd's name over the phone, Lloyd is about to accidentally put him through hell again.
The Oni adjusts her hold on him, squeezing tighter as if to send him straight into blissful unconsciousness, and Lloyd gives a choked shriek of desperation. He builds his power rapidly, drawing whatever energy he can and coaxing it hot, angry and burning and vicious. His fists flare green, and the Oni's eyes widen. She takes a sudden step back, bringing them both into the portal as the world around him warps, tunneling into spiraling blues and purples. Lloyd panics, and his power does too — it explodes from his hands, smashing into the Oni and sending them both careening off course as they hurtle between realms, tumbling and swirling through dizzying nebulas of purple as they both scream.
And sure, Lloyd had known he was gonna send them a bit off course, but ending up in a realm where the first thing he does is crash into himself definitely wasn't expected.
It's shaping up to be a pretty horrible start to the holidays, sadly. Maybe next year.
"Wait, okay - wait," Lloyd says, his voice echoing oddly in the circular drainage tunnel as they trudge through the shallow water. "So you're saying people just - just mercilessly hate you, just because of your dad?"
"Yeah," the other Lloyd says, shrugging. "I mean, they don't really hate me now, as much, after the whole thing with Meowthra, but they used to."
"Wow," Lloyd says. "That's - that's kinda messed up? Like, a lot."
His counterpart looks away, rubbing at his hair. "I mean - it wasn't so bad. I got used to it."
Lloyd frowns. "That just makes it worse!" He wonders if this is how the others feel when he shrugs stuff off. No wonder Kai looks like his head is about to combust.
"I - okay, yeah, it was messed up," the other him mutters, downcast. "My dad didn't really give them any reason to like me, though. And I guess it was just easier for them to take out all their frustration on me 'cause I was the easier target, as opposed to say, running up to a volcano island and yelling at a warlord for wrecking your pilates studio."
"Well that still sucks, other Lloy- um, I mean, Lloyd." Lloyd winces at the slip.
His counterpart snorts. "It's okay, I've been calling you Lloyd No. 2 in my head so far. Gotta keep myself from having a crisis somehow."
"We might need to come up with something like that if we meet up with anyone else," Lloyd says. "This is gonna get confusing pretty fast. Too bad I don't really have a nickname, Lloyd's too short…"
He's definitely not gonna go suggesting green machine, or green bean, or Floyd, or whatever undignified thing the team's decided to call him this week.
"I mean…" the other him hesitates, rubbing the back of his head reluctantly. "Ugh. I guess you could always call me Luh-Lloyd."
Lloyd blinks. "Luh-Lloyd?"
The other Lloyd rolls his eyes. "Yeah. That's what my dad calls me."
"Why?"
"Lloyd's got two L's," he sighs. "You gotta pronounce them both, I guess.
"That doesn't even make any sense," Lloyd frowns.
"I know!" the other him throws his arms up in frustration. "He told me 'what's the point of having two L's if you're not gonna pronounce them?'"
"But - there's still no U in there," Lloyd argues. "And Lloyd just looks weird with one L."
"Right? It's like if you misspell a word and it looks wrong." The other Lloyd's face scrunches up. "L-oyd. Lllloyd."
"Okay, now the name's sounding weird."
"To be fair, it is kinda weird," his counterpart shrugs. "You've got a family of Wu's and Garmadon's and Ko- Misako's, and we're just Lloyd." He glances at him. "I mean, I'm assuming you've got them too…"
"Yeah, I got them," Lloyd mutters. Not so much Garmadon, but…it's not anything he's not used to. Maybe the other him got luckier with parental figures.
"It sounds so anti-climatic though, right?" the other Lloyd continues. "We should have a more impressive name."
"Like Luh-Lloyd?" Lloyd grins.
"You watch it," Luh-Lloyd glares.
Lloyd giggles, waving him off — and immediately wincing as the action jars his bad arm. He shakes his head, sobering. "Seriously, though, back on topic — that's terrible. And you said the adults were in on it, too?"
"Oh yeah," the other him says, making a face. "I think they were encouraging it. 'Stay away from the child terror, his dad is bad and so is he' and all that."
"Geez," Lloyd says, thinking back to the people of his own Ninjago. And he thought one day's worth of jeering at Jamanakai was bad. "I got lucky, I guess."
"Are you kidding me?" his counterpart says, eyes wide. "You've told me about like, five minutes of your life so far, and I'm pretty sure that alone would've killed me."
"Nah," Lloyd says, with a huff of wry laughter. "I think you'd be fine. I'm - you're - we're a lot tougher than you'd think."
"Doesn't mean you should have to be, though," the other Lloyd says, a little sadly, kicking at the water. "Sometimes it'd be nice not to have to put on a tough face all the time, y'know?"
"Yeah," Lloyd exhales, looking down. Boy, does he know.
"Speaking of a tough face," the other Lloyd continues, narrowing his eyes at him. "Are you ever gonna mention that your arm's messed up?"
Lloyd flinches, trying to hide his arm and grimacing as it flares in pain. "Wha- no, it's fine."
The other Lloyd stares at him, giving him a — okay, wow, that's creepy, that's exactly the face Lloyd makes when Kai's pulling some bullshit-
Oh.
"Yeah," the other Lloyd says. "I may not know what the heck an elemental dragon or Airjitzu is, but I know when I'm lying to someone's face."
Lloyd flushes. "It's just dislocated, I think," he says. "I slipped up and the Oni got to it."
"If it's just dislocated, I can probably pop it back in?" the other him says, hesitantly. He flashes Lloyd a tentatively reassuring smile at his skeptical look. "Trust me, I've got plenty of experience."
Lloyd looks at his arm, then looks at his counterpart. Well…it does hurt, maybe a little more than he's usually used to putting up with. And he can only run around with one arm awkward and stiff so long before he gets himself killed.
"Okay," he says. "Just - be fast, okay?"
"You got it," the other him says. "I wanna get outta here as fast as we can, anyways. That…Oni thing can't track us, right?"
Lloyd shifts, a little anxiously. "Um…"
He doesn't think she can, but then she did find him in some random parking lot, and his power alone is probably like a little I'm-a-descendant-of-the-First-Spinijitzu-Master, come-kill-me beacon.
"Okay, extra fast it is," the other Lloyd says, paling. "So, uh, how about you tell me about your world and stuff, to distract you? What's your, um, what's your dad like?"
Lloyd bites back a very long-suffering groan. "I don't know if you want the answer to tha- ow!"
"Sorry, sorry!"
Luh-Lloyd ('cause there's no way Lloyd is gonna pass that one up, Kai's not around so there are no consequences to his actions anymore) is actually pretty good at re-locating arms, as far as popping bones back into their sockets go. It doesn't hurt that much, even if Lloyd does yelp like a baby about it, and his arm feels almost back to normal afterwards (which is about time, the green power's unbelievably lazy today).
(Lloyd ignores the buzz of energy that lightly sizzles the hairs at the nape of his neck at that.)
At any rate, Luh-Lloyd fixes his arm in almost no time at all. Which is a really good thing, because they get about five steps out of the drainage pipe when the Oni finds them again.
Lloyd's counterpart gives a panicked yelp as she charges them, her eyes burning and arms glowing bright with purple flames. Lloyd bites down hard enough on his cheek to draw blood. Stupid, useless, rotten luck-
"Here!" he yells, his own power glowing to life as he surrounds them in a bright shield. "If you focus your power in really sharp bursts, it'll stun her for a second!"
Luh-Lloyd gapes at him. "Wha- I don't have any powers," he says, weakly.
It's Lloyd's turn to gape. His shield flickers. "You don't - huh?"
"Give up, boy!" The Oni smashes into Lloyd's shield, and he cries out, caught unawares as his power cracks and flashes before sputtering out, leaving them defenseless. The Oni wraps a powerful hand around his neck, and Lloyd thrashes in alarm as she lifts him off the ground. He can hear Luh-Lloyd struggling beside him, putting up a vicious fight as the Oni studies him.
Leave him alone, he wants to scream. He's just an innocent kid!
…and hey, you know what, so is he, what'd he do in the last year to deserve this, huh-
The Oni grins at him, all sharp and glinting teeth. "Interesting," she says. "They didn't tell me there were two. Imagine the power we could have, from the both of you combined."
Lloyd hits at her, his powers sputtering weakly. "You're not - getting any - power from us-" he wheezes, pulling at her fingers. This is the first clue he's gotten as to what she really wants him for, and he already hates it. Duh, of course it's always the power. FSM forbid anyone want him for like, his in-depth knowledge of Borg Tower's passwords, or something original for once.
"Your struggles are useless, half-mortal," the Oni hisses. "Better to admit defeat and join the family you truly belong with-"
The ground suddenly shakes thunderously, sending them all off balance, and the Oni drops them both in surprise. Lloyd quickly rolls, grabbing his counterpart as they both scramble to put as much distance between them and the Oni as possible.
The Oni makes to go after them, then pauses, frowning as the sound of engines roars toward them, quickly growing louder along with the steady pulse and beat of music. Lloyd looks dizzily out at the horizon, and blinks rapidly.
There are several very large…shark, mechs? Are those sharks? Yeah, okay, those are sharks - there are several enormous shark mechs making their way onto shore toward them, all blaring hard rock as a figure at the top of one cackles maniacally.
"Don't worry, Luh-Lloyd, your dad is here to save the day!" the person brags, sounding half-cocky, half-viciously out for blood. The mechs draw closer, canons already spinning threateningly. The voice darkens, and Lloyd finally gets a good look at the person in the mech. "No creepy giant monster messes with my son, no matter how cool those tattoos look."
The Oni snarls. Lloyd's jaw drops. "Is that your dad?" he manages. Because yeah, there's the red eyes and Oni skin and four arms, the stupid big helmet, but - the voice coming out of his father's look-alike, and the expression he's got on-
He needs to get a video of this. He should video this, right? Because this is - this is - Uncle Wu and the guys are never gonna believe him.
Luh-Lloyd groans, but he gives a wheezing laugh of relief. "Drama queen," he mutters.
Despite their incredibly different tastes in music, Lloyd quickly learns that this Garmadon is no less overdramatic, nor less incredibly effective at beating the ever-loving heck out of an Oni.
"-and then your mom called, completely freaking out - it's like she has zero faith in me! I mean, c'mon, I kept you safe from the giant demon cat, didn't I?"
"You got eaten by the cat, and I had to save you," Luh-Lloyd rolls his eyes as his father frets over him. "And her name's Meowthra, dad."
"Yeah, yeah, and your name's Lloyd," Garmadon says, rolling his eyes. "Or actually, this little gremlin here is Lloyd. Do you have a twin Koko never told me about or something?"
Lloyd lets his counterpart stutter out an explanation. He's too busy being speechless. Because like - okay. He's seen his dad evil. He's seen him good. He's seen him out-of-his-mind-crazy evil. But he's never seen his dad like this.
He's torn between missing his own dad, being jealous, and wanting to laugh until his sides hurt. This Garmadon's got tiny sharks embroidered on his surcoat, which Lloyd is definitely suspecting is just a scarf.
"-so yeah, that's…that's what we're dealing with," the other Lloyd is finishing. "Um…thanks for saving us, I guess. Did you…did you kill her?"
Garmadon turns, squinting out over the ocean. "Not sure," he muses. "I mean, if she hasn't come back yet, maybe the sharks ate her, huh? That'd be hilarious-"
"Dad, please."
"Alright, alright, you wet blanket," Garmadon scoffs. He turns to Lloyd, who immediately goes still. "So, you're my kid from another world, huh?" he says, scrutinizing him with squinted eyes. "You've got cool teeth, y'know. Are those fangs? Or did you file 'em into points yourself?"
Lloyd blinks. Luh-Lloyd makes a frustrated noise. "Dad, please don't be weird. He's really cool, I promise."
"I - uh, they're real," Lloyd says, quietly.
"Huh," Garmadon says, still staring at him. Lloyd shifts nervously under his gaze. It's just - it's weird. It's his dad's face staring at him, but the person talking is so unlike his own dad it's almost hysterical.
It also…it might sting. Just a tiny bit. His own dad kinda wants him dead at the moment. In comparison, this Garmadon is father of the year.
Lloyd bets he never threw his son through a prison wall, he thinks darkly.
"He's taller than you, you know that?" Garmadon finally says, to his own son.
Luh-Lloyd turns red. "N-no he's not!" he protests. Lloyd very pointedly looks down at his counterpart. He sighs, sadly. "He's just older…"
"Well, whatever he is, we need to get him home!" Garmadon says, and Lloyd starts as he claps him on the back. "If I know Koko, she's probably goin' insane by now. You know how to get home? 'Cause I really don't wanna have to ask my lame brother for help twice in a month, that'd be horrible-"
Lloyd is trying to figure out who Koko is — does this Lloyd have a girlfriend? Because if so, he needs to like, pre-warn him, or something — oh man, he definitely needs to mention never to get within twenty feet of anyone named Harum-
With a boom, the sky opens up again, the familiar sight of a portal flashing above them. The other Lloyd yelps, jumping into a defensive stance, and Garmadon pulls out the biggest sword Lloyd's ever seen, his eyes glinting in anticipation. Lloyd brings his own powers up, the familiar hum of power drumming through his veins. For a half-second, he's positive it's just more Oni-
"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, I swear on your grandfather you are never allowed anywhere alone again-!"
-but the familiar voice shouting at him rules that out pretty quickly.
"Kai!" Lloyd calls, overjoyed. The bright light dies down, and his jaw drops, his eyes going wide.
"Wait, Kai? And i-is that a dragon?" Luh-Lloyd gasps.
"Yeah," Lloyd says, a little blankly in shock. How on earth did Kai convince-? "She's my great-grandmother."
His counterpart makes a choking sound. "What?!"
"She can travel between realms."
"That doesn't make it better!"
"Hello, little one," the Firstbourne's voice hums pleasantly in his mind as she lands, a wind-blown Kai yelping from her back as he's tossed backward. "Lost again?"
"Yeah," Lloyd says, feeling a little less disoriented as her head nudges him gently. "Uh, thanks for coming. I had another relative try to kill me."
The Firstbourne growls, baring her teeth. "Oni," she snarls. "They should know better than to go after you. I will have words for my grandson about this."
"Does anyone want to explain what's going on?" Garmadon says, cautiously putting his sword away. Luh-Lloyd is staring at the Firstbourne with eyes the size of saucers where Garmadon has pinned him protectively behind him.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," Lloyd says. "She says that-"
"Lloyd!"
Lloyd promptly has the air knocked out of him as Kai grabs him, finally having found his way off the Firstbourne. "Thank everything you're not dead - you can't keep doing this, okay?" Kai says, shaking him. "I'm going to have gray hair as a teenager, I'm not even kidding this time, look-"
"Sorry," Lloyd gasps, as he pries himself out of the slightly-strangling embrace. "Oni attacked. Not my fault."
"I know, I know, I just-" Kai cuts off, looking strained. "I missed your call the first time, and Nya was freaking out 'cause she missed it too, and then the last thing I hear is you yelling and that freaky voice, and…" Kai takes a deep breath. "Okay. Alright. You're fine now, right?"
"Yeah," Lloyd says, giving him a reassuring smile. He starts, remembering. "Oh yeah! Hey, heh, meet me."
Kai looks around him, and his jaw goes slack. "There's two," he whispers, looking between them. He goes pale. "Oh no, no wonder you almost died, there's two of you-"
"Hey!" Lloyd says, insulted. "That's not - that's not even-"
The Firstbourne's quiet laughter echoes in his head, and Lloyd turns scarlet.
"Uh, hi?" the other Lloyd says cautiously, stepping forward. "You're uh - you're his Kai, then?"
"Yeah," Kai says, still looking mind-blown as he shakes Luh-Lloyd's outstretched hand. "And you're what, Lloyd mini? Geez, you're like a shorter version of mine, cute little voice and everything." He ignores both Lloyds' indignant sputtering, craning his neck to narrow his eyes at Garmadon. "I know who you are. Do we need to get rid of him?"
"No," Lloyd says, firmly. "This is-"
"Ha!" Garmadon's laughter drowns out Lloyd's attempted explanation. "As if you little matchstick could take me out. Your hair's worse than my son's lame friend's, what'd you do, get syrup in it? Get stuck in a blender?"
Kai blinks wildly. "I - uh..."
"He's a different Garmadon," Lloyd hisses in his ear. "Very different. Just go with it."
Kai looks at Lloyd, then back at Garmadon. Then back to Lloyd. Then back to Garmadon again, a familiar look of anger crossing his face. "Did you just insult my hair, you predictable, stuck-up ugly ba-"
"Who are you callin' ugly, ice cream head-"
"He's as bad as my Kai, isn't he," Luh-Lloyd sighs, watching Kai and Garmadon go at it.
"Yeah," Lloyd sighs back. "Is yours as protective?"
"I dunno, has yours ever drop-kicked your dad in the face for you?"
"Would he be Kai if he hadn't?"
Lloyd doesn't end up getting to meet his counterpart's team, which is super disappointing, but he gets to hear them all yelling in concern at Luh-Lloyd over the phone for a good twenty minutes, so he figures they can't be that different.
(Jay sounds really weird though, Lloyd couldn't even place his voice at first. And so does Zane, actually, just the way he talks…)
But as much as Lloyd wants to meet the others, and as much as Kai wants to compare hairstyles with his counterpart, the Firstbourne did drop everything at Kai's frantic call just to come rescue Lloyd, so he figures it'd be rude to keep her waiting.
She's also already in a bad mood because of the Oni, and Lloyd really doesn't want to see how long it'll take this Garmadon to convince her to eat him.
"Okay, one more time," Luh-Lloyd says, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Listen to your team, stay away from anyone named Morro or Harumi, and watch out for…magic tea?"
"You…probably won't have a problem with that one," Lloyd admits, glancing back to where Kai's already hopping back on the Firstbourne's back. "Just, keep your eyes open, okay? And don't sweat the powers thing, by the way," Lloyd gives him a small smile. "The fact that you've gotten this far without them is…it's really impressive. I don't know if I could do it," he says, thinking of those few weeks in the Resistance. And to think, this Lloyd's been going his whole life without powers...that's a perspective check.
"I'm not crazy about it, to be honest," the other Lloyd murmurs, looking down.
"I mean, they might kick in eventually," Lloyd muses. "But…it's okay if they don't. Just don't get it in your head that you're…" Lloyd takes a breath. "Just…don't sell yourself too short, okay? You don't need powers to be the Green Ninja."
"I mean, I've been the Green Ninja for years without them, so," Luh-Lloyd says wryly. "But thanks," he ducks his head. He looks off to the side, his jaw working. "And uh…I don't really know what's going on with your own dad, but I can tell..."
He takes a tight little breath, looking up at Lloyd. "I know it looks like we're fine now, but for almost my whole life, I grew up thinking my dad didn't care about me. We fought, like, all the time, and he didn't even know it was me. I-I hated him, 'cause he didn't even care, you know? But he - deep down, in the end, he still loved me. It just…took a lot to get him to remember that."
It's Lloyd's turn to look away, something in his chest tightening.
"So I don't really know what things are like with you and your dad, just that you look sad when I talk to mine." The other him tugs on his hoodie strings anxiously, but his words are earnest and sincere. "But I know your dad's gotta be similar. 'Cause if my dad can get over himself and love me, then there's no way yours doesn't love you, even if he's just too caught up in his own jerkiness right now to show it."
Lloyd's eyes sting, and he shuts them tightly. This Lloyd doesn't know - he has no idea. No idea how far his father is from saving right now.
But…this Lloyd is hopeful, in a way Lloyd remembers being not too long ago. He misses being able to have that kind of faith in people.
Maybe he should try it again. With common sense and caution, of course, no more going stupid love-struck blind, but…maybe.
"I hope you're right," he says, quietly. He gives him the weakest of smiles. "Thanks. It means a lot."
"I hope it works out," Luh-Lloyd says, and he looks like he means it. "We need every break we can get."
Lloyd snorts wetly. "Yeah, we really do, don't we."
"You ever gonna be done over there?" Kai hollers at Lloyd, from atop the Firstbourne. "Hey, ask mini-you if he wants to come with us! Any Lloyd anywhere is always welcome to escape his awful family with us."
"Thanks, but I'm good," Luh-Lloyd grins. "My own Kai would probably kill me if I ditched this universe."
"Fair enough," Kai says.
"Time to go, little one," the Firstbourne says, gently.
Lloyd nods, giving his counterpart one last smile. "It was nice to meet you," he says, feeling almost sad as he turns for the Firstbourne.
"Same," Luh-Lloyd says. "Hey, go binge watch Starfarer sometime, okay? And take a self-care day, or something."
Lloyd rolls his eyes. "I'm not that angst-ridden," he says. "And I can't watch Starfarer without Jay bragging that his dad is Cliff Gordon anymore."
Luh-Lloyd gapes. "Jay's dad is who-"
Lloyd leaves him with that, laughter dying as he pauses in front of Garmadon, trying not to meet his eyes as he awkwardly mumbles bye.
Garmadon raises an eyebrow at him. "Well, you might not be my son, but if you ever want to ditch your own lame world, you can always come be my General Number Two, Luh-Lloyd Number Two," he declares.
Before Lloyd can even form a response to that, Kai blinks, speaking up. "Luh…Lloyd?" There's a horrible grin forming on his face.
"No," Lloyd says quickly, as he scrambles up the Firstbourne's back. "No, no, no - I just got you to stop with the Floyd, don't you dare-"
"Oh, I won't, Luh-Lloyd."
Lloyd spears his counterpart with a glare. "Thanks a lot."
The other Lloyd shrugs, pointing at his dad. "His fault."
Garmadon looks unapologetic as the Firstbourne takes off, slinging an arm around his son as he waves at them. Lloyd waves back, trying to ignore the hollow ache in his chest as he watches them grow smaller. He shivers as they fly higher, the air growing cold, matching the pit in his stomach as he watches Luh-Lloyd and his Garmadon turn away, heading home together.
There's a sudden warmth around his shoulders, and Lloyd starts. Kai's draped his red hoodie around him, and he's giving him a knowing look.
"You okay?"
Lloyd gives him a half-smile that feels a little more steady, and shrugs. "Am now," he says.
Kai studies him for a second, before finding something that makes his expression relax. "Good," he says, as he looks forward again, turning so Lloyd can hold onto him as the Firstbourne arcs higher. "'Cause this was a really long day."
"You said it," Lloyd mutters.
"Hold on," The Firstbourne hums. "We're going home."
Lloyd yawns, exhaustion crashing down on him as he leans against Kai's back. They're gonna have to deal with the Oni thing when they get back, and Lloyd's probably going to get asked three hundred questions he doesn't have the answer to.
But for now, he's just with Kai and his great-grandmother, so Lloyd can drift off and wonder how many more him's there are out there in the universe, and hope that his shorter counterpart never has to go through half of what he did.
"So, what was with all the shark mechs?" Kai asks, suddenly.
Lloyd groans, thudding his head against Kai's back. "I don't even want to know."